REVIEW: Konosuba: Legend of Crimson Explodes Into Theaters But Doesn't Blow Anyone Away

Hit anime series, KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world!’S first film hit Japanese cinemas last week and our Japan Correspondent, Daryl Harding, was there on the film ’s release day to give us his review and catch up with our dysfunctional protagonists.

It ’s always fun jumping into the world inhabited by Kazuma, Aqua, Megumin and Darkness.The first two anime series (which you can stream on Crunchyroll), is a joy from start to finish.With its off-model characters, excessive humour, and storylines that end in the most outlandish of ways, it ’s no surprise that the series iS popular both overseas and in Japan.

KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Legend of Crimson Is the first film from the franchise, being helmed at J.C.Staff rather than Studio Deen.How does this change affect the film? Does it affect the film at all? Will Aqua again be eaten by giant frogs?

A lot of the humor from the film, as in the series, comes from the situational comedy of the weird circumstances the gang get thrust into.For that, I ’ll try and keep all spoilers to a minimum.

Konosuba: Legend of Crimson opens with Yunyun needing some “Help” from Kazuma at the behest of her father.Megumin, who comes from the same Crimson Demon village, feels bad for Yunyun and the gang travel to their hometown to try and level with Yunyun ’s chuunibyou (eighth-grader syndrome) father. In true Konosuba fashion, the gang gets mixed into a village-destroying threat and only they can save the day.You’d think a village of Arch Wizards of the Crimson Demon Clan could handle their own against a threat of that size, but hey, it ’s Konosuba. Ya gotta let Kazuma have his fun.

The story mostly extends on Megumin, Yunyun and Kazuma and the hijinks surrounding a village full of chuunibyou Arch Wizards, while relegating the other two party members to either being only used sparingly for comedic purposes or as a powerhouses that fight off-screen.It was enjoyable meeting the villagers of Megumin's hometown and seeing where she got her unique tendencies.And while the overabundance of chuunibyou characters should have been a little too much, everyone is varied enough that meeting any of the new ones does n’t get tiresome.

One of the highlights of Konosuba: Legend of Crimson was seeing Yunyun's life in the village.If any character and scenario had the most growth throughout the film, it was her and how the village treats her. seeing her come into her own was a highlight of mine.

It ’s always a little bit worrying when an anime series changes the studio it ’s being produced at.As I mentioned earlier, rather than being made at Studio Deen, Konosuba: Legend of Crimson was animated at JC Staff.Thankfully, this doesn't hinder the film in the slightest.While the film felt more polished, with more effects placed over the animation during scenes of explosive magic, than the anime series, the film wasn't afraid to be as unpolished as parts of the second season, using that unpolished-ness for comedic effect.

And that is no surprise considering Koichi Kikuta is back as an animation director and Takaomi Kanasaki as the director, along with most of the rest of the staff from the TV series.In an interview for the TV series in 2016, Kikuta stated that “The series director (Kanasaki) wanted things to look off-model, but not off-model enough to turn off viewers.” This philosophy is brought over the big screen where all the explosions are dialed up to 11 and all the character animations being barely recognizable as Konosuba at points.

But this also leads to a point against the film: It doesn't look too different than the TV series.while yes, the animation looks as good as the anime series, and is a little bit more polished at points, it feels like a natural evolution of the TV anime, rather than a huge leap to the big screen

For fans of the series, seeing your favorite characters on the big screen is fun, as is the story and animation.All the classic humor, visual motifs and animation return from the TV series, but it doesn't grow in a way befitting of a feature film. Konosuba: Legend of Crimson feel like an anime arc squeezed into a film runtime and blown up for the big screen.Not that I think that's a bad thing at all.

REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ The classic humor of Konosuba translates well to a film runtime

+ Megumin and YunYun ’s village is fun to learn about

+ The film is a ton of fun

+ More Yunyun

+/– Animation is on par with the TV series, explosions are VERY impressive

– Some tasteless jokes left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth

You can catch up on KONOSUBA -God's blessing on this wonderful world! on Crunchyroll! Are you excited to see this film? Who is your favorite Konosuba character?

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Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News.He also runs the YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza And posts photo of his travels on Instagram.